The Devil at 4 O'Clock Overview:

The Devil at 4 O'Clock (1961) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Mervyn LeRoy and Fred Kohlmar.

BlogHub Articles:

No article for The Devil at 4 O'Clock at this time. Submit yours here.

Quotes from

Harry: Hey, Holy Joe, we don't owe you nuttin', so don't start pushin'.
Father Matthew Doonan: Where you from, tough guy? I hear echoes.
Harry: I've been around... What's it to ya?
Father Matthew Doonan: You spit your T's. That'd be Jersey, I guess, maybe Jersey City. Hunh! I came from just across the River - Hell's Kitchen. We used to eat punks like you.
Harry: Maybe. That's when you had your teeth.


Charlie: I was a pretty good thief in my time.
Father Matthew Doonan: I believe that.
Charlie: It's too late. Can't you get out now?
Father Matthew Doonan: It's never too late to change.
Charlie: My mother, that's what she used to say, "It's never too late."
Father Matthew Doonan: She was right.
Charlie: She kept after me - kept tellin' me - there was another thief once dyin' on the cross right next to Christ.
Father Matthew Doonan: The Good Thief.
Charlie: That's what she called him.
Father Matthew Doonan: He didn't chicken out. He just got smart and at the very last moment, he stole Heaven.
Charlie: That's pretty good stealin', huh?


Father Matthew Doonan: I'll bet you were a sweet little altar boy.
Harry: Weren't we all?


read more quotes from The Devil at 4 O'Clock...

Facts about

This picture's director, Mervyn LeRoy, said of this film in his autobiography, 'Mervyn LeRoy: Take One': " . . . what made it a problem was that the climactic scene involved a volcano, and that's the kind of thing you have to worry about and plan for with extreme care...It was done partly on a Hollywood sound stage, partly in the Hawaiian Islands. And we also used miniatures extensively. We built a mountain near La Jolla, on Gil Hodges' farm. Mostly, though, we shot in Lahaina, on the Hawaiian island of Maui. We built a lovely set there -an entire village, complete with a street, a church, and even a jail. Even though we were shooting in one of the most beautiful places on earth, it was a tough picture."
The meaning and relevance of this film's title is that its literary origins are said to have derived from a proverb which reads: ""It is hard for a man to be brave when he knows he is going to meet the devil at four o'clock."Moreover, in the film's story, the team of rescuer adventurers go out to save lepers on the mountain after the volcano has erupted and the island evacuated. They must return by 4 O'Clock the next day which is the deadline for when the last schooner will depart the island.
Though Spencer Tracy had first / top billing on this picture and Frank Sinatra second billing, it is Sinatra's image who is centrally situated at the forefront of the movie's principal theatrical movie poster, not Tracy. Barbara Luna and Tracy are positioned secondarily behind Sinatra.
read more facts about The Devil at 4 O'Clock...
Share this page:
Visit the Classic Movie Hub Blog CMH
Also directed by Mervyn LeRoy




More about Mervyn LeRoy >>
Also produced by Mervyn LeRoy




More about Mervyn LeRoy >>
Also released in 1961




See All 1961 films >>